Just as happened last year, Hillary Clinton was lustily booed at the Take America Back conference today. Then she came in third in the straw poll behind Obama and Edwards. Hillary was booed because she blamed the Iraqi government for the situation in Iraq. We have to put this into perspective.
I don’t know who first said it, but there is a saying: “Don’t practice crap.”
It means that you shouldn’t do things shoddily, or half-ass. You should take pride in your work and follow through on projects until they are done. But, in a political context, it can mean “don’t repeat Republican talking points.”
There is a good reason why Democratic politicians like to blame the Iraqi government for the situation in Iraq. It avoids the pitfalls of blaming the generals or, god forbid, the troops. Anytime someone like Harry Reid says something obvious, like the fact that General Peter Pace has been incompetent, the right-wing starts howling like a stuck pig. And then turncoats like Joe Lieberman race to pile on. But, co-opting Republican talking points is no way to win a debate. It’s a way to concede the debate before it starts.
The problem in Iraq is a matter of tribal, ethnic, and sectarian rivalries that were predicted by the Intelligence Community. The blame lies in American politicians taking no heed of the warnings provided by unbiased experts on the Middle East. The problems were compounded by policies and strategies that failed to deal with reality. Iraq is a screwed up country. That is why we should have left it alone and never, ever, ever put ourselves in the position of taking responsibility for maintaining order there.
Hillary Clinton is one of those politicians that didn’t listen. And now she wants to shift the blame onto the Iraqis. Progressives know better. They saw Ms. Clinton practicing crap and they called her on it.
The blame for Iraq lies with each and every politician that voted to give the president the authority to invade Iraq.
Well, I think that last line is kind of a Gopper talking point as well. Yeah, everybody’s guilty, but those who made up the lies get 99 percent of the blame and those who stupidly or mendaciously bought into the lies get the rest. Let’s not suggest equivalency here.
I’m glad the progs are rejecting the crap about this being all Iraq’s fault. But as you say, it’s the Dems’ only fallback as long as they’re afraid to suggest there’s anything wrong with the military gods America wants to worship.
If your five year old wants the keys to the car is it his fault if you give them to him?
Bush isn’t a five year old. He has to take responsibility for wanting the keys. But there are adults in Washington DC and they didn’t act like adults. They acted like cowards and fools.
And now they want to escape all responsibility for their carelessness.
This might be the worst analogy I’ve ever seen here. Bush is marginally responsible because he’s a five year old? Please. Do you think he should be tried for war crimes in juvenile court?
If the police chief (a known drunk and psychopath) comes banging on your door saying he needs your gun because a gang of killers is over on the next block and headed this way, is it your fault if you give it to him, especially when you know whatever he’s going to do will happen no matter what you do?
Yeah, you probably shoulda said you’d go see if there were really gangs of thugs coming down the street. But most of us wouldn’t. We’d take the easy way. That’s our fault. But it doesn’t even compare to the cop’s crimes.
Members of Congress are not clueless homeowners. They had intelligence reports…they didn’t even read them.
Questioning the “gods” of militarism is important. I figure the stuff is actually really close to that. Take the bird off the top of the flagpole, that’s what I think…
Those straw poll results are funny. Al Gore got half as many votes as Hilary, and he wasn’t even on the ballot.
When are these “Candidates” gonna listen to Digby?
I thought in the primaries they were supposed to be throwing some red meat to us Dirty Fucking Hippies. The ‘publicans sure are pandering (I’m looking at you Mitt “Double Guantanamo” Romney)!!!
I want a Richardson on Steroids. One who will use Mayor Daley’s supposed quote from ’68; “You put the fucking troops on the fucking planes and you get them out of there!”.
I just don’t see it. I feel like they have been co-opted, or something worse.
The public is way ahead of ’em.
Saying something like that, in front of that audience, was as arrogant as it was, ah, ignorant. Especially for Hillary, who one would expect has philosophically considered the implications of disregarding the progressive blogospoheric critique. Because she has so far made that choice.
Getting booed by this group is something I hope she remembers and takes as a learning experience. If she is going to lead this country via triangulating political rhetoric, she will have a further reach to her left than she might be used to.
Hillary will never lead this country, even if she’s elected. And now we have another interesting spoiler candidate, also from NY, making noise about what a mess we’re in. Mr. Bloomberg speaks. He doesn’t promise to bring along a package deal.
You have no idea how much her statement about the package deal is sticking to my guts like glue. That’s just more one thing she’ll never learn: for every sucker who will cheerfully vote for the pair of them, there are two who will get up out of their death beds just to vote against Bill and Hill.